A British widow who lost her home and life savings to online romance frauds died in a car crash in Ghana after traveling there to marry a man she met online, an inquest was told.
Janet Fordham, 69, suffered fatal injuries on Feb. 14, 2023, when the vehicle she was in left the road while traveling from Accra to the Oti region, Devon Coroner’s Court heard. She had gone to Ghana to wed a man named Kofi, who claimed he could help her recover money lost to scammers.
Fordham, a retired housekeeper from Honiton, Devon, began using dating websites in 2017. She was first deceived by someone posing as a British Army sergeant major in Syria, who convinced her to send money for gold bars. Her daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, said she warned her against sending money but later learned she had given him about £150,000.
Over the next five years, Fordham fell victim to multiple frauds, including one involving a supposed diplomat. She transferred funds through bank and wire transfers, post office services, and later Bitcoin and ATMs. Banks and police repeatedly warned her, but she continued sending money, believing she could recover her losses.
Her family said she borrowed about £140,000 from relatives, cashed in her pension, and was left living in a caravan at her son’s home. “Whether she was in so deep she couldn’t accept it was all gone, or whether she genuinely believed what she was being told, we will never know,” Melanie Fordham said.
In October 2022, she flew to Ghana to meet Kofi, despite her family’s efforts to stop her. Police said the crash that killed her involved no third party. Kofi later pleaded guilty to driving offenses and received a suspended sentence and a fine.
Senior coroner Philip Spinney concluded Fordham died from a head injury sustained in the collision.
